Y’all. I know it’s not even Thanksgiving yet, but when it comes to Christmas crafting – you have to hit the stores EARLY! If you are looking to make some things for your own home or to give as gifts, make sure you start scoping out what’s available sometime in October, then hit the sales as soon as they drop in November! You will be surprised at how picked over everything becomes by the first of December!

People seem to wonder why places like Michaels, AC Moore, and Hobby Lobby start putting Christmas supplies out in the middle of summer, and it’s exactly so that crafters have the materials they need to make goods for all the Holiday Craft fairs!

On that note, here are a few Christmas wreaths I recently put together for a good friend of mine – yes, in the middle of November!

If you haven’t decorated a wreath before, I recommend starting with a grapevine wreath as your base. They can be a little messy, depending on whether or not the manufacturer left a bunch of leaves attached, but the tightly woven grapevine can hold your decorations without the need for massive amounts of pinning or tying, and has enough give to adjust everything, should it get askew.

For this wreath (inspired by the one found here), I started out purchasing different faux floral Christmas pieces, knowing that I wanted the top of my wreath to mirror the bottom, so purchasing my pieces in sets of two. The thing to remember is layering – make sure you purchase enough floral pieces to cover the section of wreath you want covered, but also that you have enough to layer – everything is more interesting with layers!

Some of the larger floral pieces had such large stems, it’s fairly easy to push the stems into the grapevine wreath and have enough tension so that they won’t fall out. For the smaller pieces, I recommend using either a hot glue gun or tacky glue (I like Aleene’s – a classic!) on the stem to make sure that it adheres and sticks to the wreath.

Once I had all my floral pieces in place, it was time for the bow and the monogram! I used a pre-cut letter in the size I wanted and painted it white. To attach it, I figured out the placement of where I wanted my letter and used a pencil to mark spots that would be stable against the wreath. I then used my staple gun (watch your fingers!) and put a staple in each of those spots. After the staples were in place, I threaded floral wire through each staple, fed the wire through the wreath, then twisted the two ends of the wire together on the back side and tucked the excess back into the wreath.

For the bow, I found ribbon that I liked and pulled this simple box together, threading floral wire through the back and then attaching it in the same way as the letter. However, you can find lots of pre-made fabric bows (even in the gift wrap aisle!) that you can turn into a decoration for your wreath!

Christmas wreaths are such a festive way to add a little cheer to your front door! What are you planning on putting on your front door this season?

P.S. Here’s another wreath, almost identical, that I also did for my friend as a gift for her to give!